Coach Tom O'Brien and his Wolfpack celebrate their Belk Bowl victory against Louisville on Tuesday

CHARLOTTE –Rock bottom came on Sept. 22.

That’s when coach Tom O’Brien took his N.C. State football team to his hometown and got hammered 44-14 by Cincinnati.

Even though the Wolfpack lost again a week later at home to Georgia Tech to fall to 2-3, things never seemed as hopeless this season as they did on that forgettable Thursday night in Ohio.

At that point, given all the injuries, all the mistakes and all the pessimism that surrounded the program, it would have taken a red cape with an “S” on it to make the leap of faith that State would eventually get the seven wins it needed for bowl eligibility.

But there was O’Brien on Tuesday, standing on the winners’ platform at Bank of America Stadium gleefully accepting the Belk Bowl trophy along side captains George Bryan and J.R. Sweezy.

David Amerson intercepted two passes, including one for a touchdown

Not only had the Wolfpack defied the odds by winning its seven games, it added an eighth for good measure by beating Louisville 31-24 to complete a turnaround so improbable that even the usually unflappable O’Brien had a hard time describing it.

“I told the team in the locker room afterwards that I’m as proud of this team as any team around,” he said. “This has been as frustrating a year for them and us, but it has also been a rewarding year.”

Granted, winning a second-tier bowl against a similarly mediocre opponent usually isn’t cause for rejoicing and hyperbole.

In this case, though, at least some of it is justified considering the disaster this season could have ended up being.

That the Wolfpack was able to turn what looked to be chicken droppings into chicken salad is a credit to the players, O’Brien and a coaching staff that had to do more juggling than a circus acrobat to make all the mismatched pieces fit together into a working unit.

So how did State do it?

The transformation started with the healthy return of defensive stalwarts Sweezy and Terrell Manning, along with complementary players Brian Slay, Thomas Teal to add depth versatility.

It picked up momentum during a well-placed bye week that allowed the team to regroup and recharge.

The biggest adjustments, however, were those made between the ears. And they began on the night of that seemingly disastrous loss in Cincinnati.

“We made a lot of little mental mistakes that led to big plays and beat ourselves a lot,” said sophomore cornerback David Amerson, who intercepted two more passes Tuesday – including one for the decisive touchdown – to break the ACC’s single-season record with 13. “We knew if we could fix that, we could play with anybody.”

T.J. Graham scored two touchdowns for the Wolfpack on Tuesday

The Wolfpack didn’t completely eliminate the mental lapses, as their Jekyll and Hyde performances against Boston College, Clemson and Maryland showed. But they did eliminate enough to allow themselves to rise to the occasion when it mattered most.

It happened again Tuesday in Charlotte.

For all the big plays, including Amerson’s interceptions and three touchdown passes from Mike Glennon, there were plenty of other little things that are often overlooked in wins – and seasons – like this.

They included a pair of stops on fourth-and-short, a sack by Audie Cole that took Louisville out of field goal range and the stellar play of backup centers Wayne Crawford and Cameron Fordham in place of injured starter Camden Wentz.

Then there was the leadership of senior captains Bryan and Sweezy, among others, who weren’t about to walk off the field for the final time as anything but winners.

“As much as this team has grown, it would have been a shame to go out with a loss,” Bryan, a graduate of New Hanover High, said.

Because it didn’t, the Wolfpack was able to go from rock bottom to the top of the mountain in just two short months. Now it can look to build on the momentum of an 8-5 season that was in many ways, even more impressive than the 9-4 campaign that preceded it a year ago.

“Last year’s team won nine football games, (but it) really had no adversity,” O’Brien said. “We were healthy. We snuck up on people. A lot of things went our way. Nothing went our way this year and we’ve won six of the last eight games and went 4-2 in the conference.

“That’s a great accomplishment for these kids. They should be proud of it.”